connecting the dots in regards to the aspects of the 3-faced Angel

"When the Fire of the Ancient One enters into the Bodies of Man and

Woman, they shall beget a child that is not born solely of the Clay,

but of the Fire Eternal. The Child that is born of Fire may gather unto

himself the substance of his own creation, for thus may he fashion

himself according to a Will Unique and Free. Those who are not born

of the Flame must to the Flame be cast.

The understanding of this is a most subtle matter and one which

must necessarily be veiled in terms of myth.

The Daemon, as Shaitan, is literally 'the Adversary' - the Reverse

One. He is the Image of the First God, manifest in double-form, as

both the Black Man standing at the Crossroads of all Existence and

as Melek Ta'us - the Peacock Angel, Sovereign of the World's Djinn.

As the 'Black Man' he is the anthropomorphic 'Body' of

Darkness, the Lord of the Sabbat, the Overseer of the Primal Rite

of Magick. In this form he embodies Death as the Gateway to the

Other. In assuming the god-form of Al-Aswad - the Man-in-Black

- the Adept places himself upon the interstitial 'Point' of the crossroads

and thus within 'Death': the singular inbetweenness 'twixt

every Stasis of Being. He thus becomes the embodiment of the

Gate at the centre of the cross-roads, the Portal where-by Power

has ingress to the World of Manifestation and through which the

Seeker must pass in order to transcend the 'Form' of the Manifest.

The Daemon figured as the Peacock-Angel is 'Death' as

metamorphic process: the Force of change acting upon the Matrix

of the Existent. This process is veiled in the language of alchemy

as the transmutation of the base substance, the Leaden Matter or

"clay", to the Aureate Elixir of the Quintessence; a metamorphosis

which is facilitated through the action of the Divine Fire upon the

Vessel containing the Matter desirous of change. This symbolism is

concurrent throughout the Poem; the base substance of Man -

"the seven handfuls of the earth" - passes through the seven stages

or "steps" of change which are symbolised by the "peacockfeathers"

and "rainbow hues" of Melek Ta'us. The apotheosis of

Matter and the reciprocal reification of the Divine Flame is

attained to through this process, and is referred to symbolically as

the "Gold" of the "One Image". The Peacock-Angel is the glyph

of 'process' and embodies the mediatory function of the Daemon

in facilitating the link between the polarities of the Path. In myth,

the Peacock-Angel is said to be the Master of Djinn, the Lord of

all Spirits; this in turn symbolises the mastery of the Adept over the

myriad faculties of his own nature: the submission of All to the

Path of Will. Shaitan is therefore both the Establisher of the Path

and the Mediator between its twain extremities: the Aspirant and

the Aspired. It is thus, in certain circles of initiates, that He who

assumes the mask of 'Devil' is both the Guide towards, and the

Living Symbol of, the Gate through which the Aspirant is led.

The Daemon figured in the feminine is Lilith, the Earthly Bride

of the Man-in-Black, and it is in this guise that the Daemon

assumes the prototypical and tripartite forms of the Creatrix. She

is Lilith, the carnal reposoir of the Ancient One's Fire; she is Ruha,

the Spiritual Blood-mother of Initiates; she is Az, the Primal

Concupiscence from whence emanates the force informing the

Icon of the Great Whore. In her is the Well of Life Itself, where-in

is spent the very wealth of pleasure. In her the Forge of Stars,

where-from the 'Blackened One' must obtain through the

'smelting of all metals' the Aureate Jewel: the golden token which

the Seeker must render to the Keeper of the Gate.

As Lilith, the Daemon is the triple-faced Queen of the Sabbat.

She is the Aged Voluptuary, robed in the last light of the waning

moon, by whose scarlet blood - the rubeate tincture shed in the

night of her power - she may transform herself into a multitude of

forms and phantasms. She is then the Enchantress who begets in

darkness the words of light. She pronounces the spell of

temptation over the passion-roused heart of Man, casting the

glamour of illusion to ensnare the unsuspecting and to test the

ever-watchful. For those whom she loves, she inspires. To these,

her adorants, she is "Wisdom" the Virgin-bride of the Soul.

It is She, the Muse, who with the innocence of the dove offers

the envenom'd cup to the parched lips of her earthly lover. Within

that cup is his own life-blood; to her his life is sacrificed. Hers is

the Cup of Life Immortal, the Graal, where-in beats the Heart of

the Mystery with the life-blood of all her true-born kin. To drink

from her cup is to sup from the Well of Everlasting Youth, to sate

the thirst of the grave with the ichor of the gods..."

Qutab
Andrew Chumbley
Pgs 43-45